Biohydrogen production from fermentation of organic waste, storage and applications

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Biohydrogen is a carbon-free alternative energy source, that can be obtained from fermentation of organic waste, biomass-derived sugars, and wastewater. This article reviews the current processes for fermentative biohydrogen production from biomass including its appropriate storage and transport challenges. The review showed that a comparison of fermentation pretreatment methods across the literature is complicated and that fermentability tests are necessary to determine the best combination of pretreatment/feedstock. Operational parameters, such as temperature, pH, macro/micronutrients addition are widely dependent on the type of fermentation and microorganisms used and hence their content need to be tailored to the process. For immobilized cells, the range of hydrogen production rate values reported for granulation processes using mixed microbial cultures, were higher (13-297 mmol H 2 /L h) than those reported for entrapment (1-115 mmol H 2 /L h) and adsorption (3-83 mmol H 2 /L h), suggesting an achievable and sustainable route for full-scale applications. A purification phase is mandatory before the final use of biohydrogens. Sorption techniques and the use of membranes are the most widely used approaches. Pressure swing adsorption has the highest recovery rate (it reaches 96%). In addition, storage of biohydrogen can have several forms with varying storage capacities (depending on the form and/or storage materials used). The transport of biohydrogen often faces technical and economic challenges requiring optimization to contribute to the development of a biohydrogen economy. • The low rate of BioH 2 generation poses challenges to the process. • Both dark fermentation and photo-fermentation have advantages and disadvantages. • BioH 2 purification is considered an obstacle to establishing a sustainable economy. • The storage technique used by biological pathways is identical to other processes. • The storage and transport of BioH 2 often faces technical and economic challenges.